Posts Categorized: Christian Life

I think we can all readily agree that the modern problem of divorce has hit epidemic proportions. In fact a few years ago I read that a jewelry store in Southern California was actually renting wedding rings! The problem of divorce has been getting worse and worse as the 20th century has sped by with very little, if any, relief in sight for this problem. Along with divorce comes multiple other problems, including the breakup of families, insecurity, loneliness, estrangement of children, and single parent families.

We live today in a sex-crazed age where unbridled indulgence in sexual passion abounds. Lust is being promoted through the most powerful media ever known to man. Our preoccupation with sex is being used by advertisers to sell their products like the toothpaste ad which states that it “gives your mouth sex appeal”. Another ad sells shaving cream and declares “Take it off; take it all off.” Another sells detergent nicknamed “The Stripper!” Sexual lust seems to be the uninterrupted theme of our society’s entertainment. Americans have adopted the playboy philosophy – “if it feels good, do it — anything is OK, as long as you don’t hurt anyone else.”

Man’s first crime was that of murder. Gen.4:8 says “And Cain told Abel his brother, and it came about when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him”. In our own day, we have seen the arrests of mass murderers whose names have become household words. Over 25,000 murders are committed in the U.S. every year. That’s approximately 70 a day! If we were to add suicide (self-murder) and abortions (pre-birth murder), the numbers would be staggering! Violence and killing fill our television and movie screens! Admittedly, most of us will never commit an actual murder. But Jesus is teaching us in this passage that if we manifest unrighteous anger, contempt or slander towards someone else, we have the seeds of murder growing already in our heart.

As good as these human artists are at their craft, I want you to direct your gaze to an even greater One. This Artist is not just good. He’s not just great. He’s the best there is! He’s perfect! He doesn’t just produce a work of art that closely resembles what He has in mind. He produces a work of art that is exactly what He has in mind! In fact, no one else is even in His league. He’s far greater than Leonardo Da Vinci, Michaelangelo, Rembrandt, or Picasso. This Artist is able to take any piece of canvass and transform it into a masterpiece. In fact, every work He begins ends up as a masterpiece. I’m speaking, of course, of God Almighty!

As difficult and grueling as a marathon might be for a runner, the Bible records another marathon that every Christian must run which is just as challenging. It’s the Christian Life, and it will take just as much discipline, fortitude and determination to snap the winner’s tape in heaven as it takes someone to finish the Boston Marathon down here!

In Hebrews 12:1-2, the main thought is found in the words “let us run.” All the other verbs in this text are secondary. They all spin off of this phrase “let us run.” God is calling us to run the Race of Life! He’s calling us to give the Christian life everything we’ve got, so that one day we will cross the finish line in heaven with joy!

The Bible is the most popular book the world has ever known. Year after year more Bibles are printed and sold than any other book in the world. In spite of the Bible’s popularity, however, comparatively few people actually read it. In the February 1, 1990 edition of USA Today, a poll taken only three months previously was cited indicating that only eleven per cent of Americans read the Bible every day, and more than half read it less than once a month or never at all. Why would the world’s most widely published and distributed book be read so infrequently?

I think you will quickly agree with me that there are few questions that are as vital as this one! Whether or not you are a Christian will determine your eternal destiny. Whether you will spend eternity in the bliss of heavenly happiness or in the torments of the damned in hell will be determined by whether or not you proved to be one of God’s own people! With that much at stake, you bet it’s important that you’re SURE that you are a Christian! I want to be of some help to you in determining a solid, biblical answer to this question.

What is a Christian? In our day and age there are numerous answers being given to that question. Some believe that anyone born in the United States is a Christian. Others believe that anyone who attends a Christian church is a Christian. Still others believe that anyone who lives an honest and upright life is a Christian. All of these definitions are faulty at best and eternally damning at worst.